Lasting Impressions 2: Sins of a Lover
by Synaptic-Firefly
Summary: Set at the end of Lasting Impressions. How Jou struggled through a new enemy and danger to return to Seto after the last battle. But at a deadly price: To surrender his humanity to become his true self. The malevolent Red Eyes Black Dragon... Chapter 2 up
1. Chapter 1: The Road Home Gone

Lasting Impressions 2: Sins of a Lover

**Stay tuned for an important announcement from the writer:**

This is Tsukiyo Kagami, and you're probably wondering what the hell's going on around here. And I will tell you. Right now, let me explain a few things:

1) I will NOT be abandoning Infiltration Into Duel Academy. It is a stand-alone sequel to Lasting Impressions and I aim to finish it. Instead, I will be writing simultaneously on both of these stories.

2) This story is a MIDQUEL. If you don't know what that is, it's a story set in between two existing stories regarding timelines. In lamen terms, this story takes place a bit in between Lasting Impressions and Infiltration Into Duel Academy.

3) This story revolves around the time Seto lost Jou after the final battle in the first fanfic, and sets the timeline to where Jou ended up in and how he worked to find his way back home to his Seto...

4) Why? Okay, the reason I want to write this is because I initially wanted Lasting Impressions to end without that last chapter, a.k.a when Jou returns to Seto and they have a delicious smut performance. The last chapter was supposed to be when Jou doesn't come back and Seto is waiting for him to return. But because many of you lovely reviewers felt the compelling need to have a happy ending, I decided to do so. Why? Because my readers deserve their enjoyment and if I ever become a series novelist, I'd like to do that as well.

5) But the last chapter was double-edged. Despite the happy ending, I made sure you didn't know how Jou came back for this fanfic's sole purpose. And I received reviews asking how Jou's return happened, which I refused to reply to until I was ready to write a midquel.

6) I guess this fanfic is before the last chapter in Lasting Impressions which explains, (and with a bit of a nice subplot to make it entertaining), the lasting question on how the hell he came back from oblivion.

7) Please enjoy this midquel!

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Sins of a Lover

Perfect Song to Listen to While Reading: Saving Me by Nickelback

Chapter 1: The Road Home Gone

A blond-haired young man fell into an endless abyss. It was dark, but not that kind of dark. It was like falling through an ocean of the universe. He could feel the ripples of water without getting wet at the same time, but he could see the stars and bluish supernovas if only he would open his eyes.

He didn't want to open his eyes, not like this.

"Katsuya," A gentle voice whispered.

And like a little boy, he ignored the voice. Instead, he listened to the whirring of wind in his ears and the only memories he had left of his past self playing over and over again in his head.

"Katsuya," The voice said again. No, Katsuya didn't want to open his eyes. He wanted to stay in his safe place where he wouldn't be facing the reality of life without Seto Kaiba.

_Seto..._

He could feel soft hands caressing his face. "It's alright Katsuya," The feminine voice whispered in his ear. "You don't have to open your eyes. I will lead you home..."

Katsuya felt instantly relieved. Finally, someone he could finally depend on for once.

Almost immediately, he felt a great burst of heat angrily struck into him and he let out an agonized scream. In his mind's eye, he could see his savior being helplessly trapped in an amber colored crystallization coffin in the shape of a fallen teardrop.

He knew something about this scenario was wrong.

In his blind darkness, he fruitlessly reached out to her.

_No...!_

He could feel the tendons of that same evil heat close in on him, wanting to cast in the same fate as his now comatose angel was; floating right up above him.

If he let the power seize him and send him into the same crystallized state...he would never see his loved ones again.

He reached out for her again and screamed into the reckless silver fire, "Leave her alone! Let us be! Don't let it take you!"

But his cries went unheard of as he saw through his mind of his savior slowly disappearing. Though he could hear her unguarded truce from the recesses of her heart.

"I will lead you home..."

Katsuya screamed, tears streaming from his eyes as he opened them wide, irises alight with blood red of his soul. "NADIA!"

And as if recoiling from Katsuya's bright red gaze, the tendrils retreated, taking his only chance of ever returning home with it.

"...I promise."

"Come back, Nadia! NADIA!"

With those words echoing from his mouth he felt his stomach plummet as the fleetingness feeling ended and he plummeted downwards into the endless abyss.

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"Damn, if only he kept his damn eyes shut for one more moment..." A female voice hissed, biting her thumb.

"Hmm..." A male voice proclaimed, his tone a deep bass. "Even so, it would have been too easy. He would of fought back."

"Yes," Another male voice whispered in a deep tenor. "The only reason we had successfully Encased the Atlantian Goddess was because she was weakening badly from the strain of handling two royal dragons and a renegade Atlantian Spirit all at once."

The female growled. "I _wanted_ that Red-Eyes Encased so badly...! The head centerpiece of my Darkness Collection–"

"Have you forgotten..." The tenor male growled back. "That you _still_ owe me my Blue-Eyes for my Shining Collection...?"

"Enough," The bass male said hauntingly. "You will get what you desire soon enough. After all..."

A sphere glowed to reveal the image of Katsuya and Kisara. The woman greedily roamed the sphere with her palm.

The man's smile grew wicked. "...The greatest prize unleashes the greatest struggle."

The two companions laughed all through the haunting darkness and candlelight.

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He felt something soft but damp between his fingers. It was spiky and cool...grass? He opened his eyes but only saw darkness. He was blindfolded.

"Wha...?" He whispered dazedly.

"You're awake, Katsuya! I'm so glad!"

That voice sounded so familiar...

He could hear her giggle. "You don't remember me, Katsuya? Well, of course you don't! After all, I've grown into a fine young lady these days!"

He couldn't believe his eyes...okay, ears. "Dark Magician Girl?"

Even though he couldn't see, he could feel her careless smile radiating.

She laughed. "Yep!"

TBC...

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A/N: How was it so far? Do you like it? Because if you don't, I'll take it off...

**Oh, yes. And in light of this new inspiration, I've drawn a piece of fanart for this chapter. It's not colored, (as I suck at Paint), but a black and white one would suffice enough. Maybe I'll make it colored once I learn how to do it right! But only if I get a lot of reviews will I post the URL... I'm 80 sure you won't be disappointed as it does not really look... "Crappy"...X.X**

Please review and thank you!


	2. Egyptian Memories 1

A/N: This may seem confusing to you people, but this segment is called Egyptian Memories. It dwells further into Seto and Jou's past lives back in Egypt. It is back to back with the present arc. For example: Chapter 1, EM#1, Chapter 2, EM#2, Chapter 3, EM#3, etc.

**Pikajenn**: Thanx.

**LP-lova210**: I wanted theme songs for each chapter to present the impression of what mood the chapter is in. Thanks for sticking with me!

**SlippingSanity**: Thanks!

**dragonlady222**: Yeah, a lot of people did.

**koolmint26**: Tournament? What kind of tournament? I'm writing for both fics so don't be worried about it!

**mandapandabug**: As much as I could, my inspiration landed me into this fic, so I will be still doing both fics simultaneously.

**pennypigeon**: Thank you!

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Egyptian Memories #1

Many dragons were outside the Cathedral of Dragons, looking at the mystical stained glass and statue monoliths of their past Kings. They waited, near patiently, as if anticipating some kind of sign to move.

Inside this vast Cathedral, a woman was crying and screaming all at once in one of the luxurious rooms, begging for the pain to stop. A nursemaid was by her side, mopping up her sweaty forehead, her beautiful golden hair plastered on her flushed skin.

"My dear, you are almost finished," One of the healers told her. "One more push should do it."

She groaned in agony and gave it her all on the final push, letting out an earsplitting scream as she felt her body being incased in an almost suffocating fire. Her scream echoed throughout the entire holy palace.

And then it fell silent.

A minute later, a baby's cry echoed as if to take over the impending quiet. The mother reached out to it. "My baby...give me my baby."

If only they could, for the baby was wrapped in a molten fire that would surely burn their hands off under a minute. They backed away from the smoldering child.

The woman cried for her baby as another figure moved into the room and pulled the child into his arms without effort, the heat unaffected by it. He lovingly handed him to her and it snuggled into it's mother, the heat dying down to accommodate her.

"My love," He caressed her hair. "You have a son in your arms and an heir in my legacy. A child of the dark."

The baby was automatically quiet, as if knowing that he was being talked about and wanted to listen. The mother and father stared at him, their gazes lovingly on him. He had golden hair like his mother and his father's quiet looking disposition with bright red eyes the color of flawless rubies.

"Katsuya," She whispered, slowly falling into an exhausted sleep. "His name is Katsuya."

As she fell into a deep sleep, her child in her arms, the Dragon King Ra brushed his wife's wavy bangs away gently and kissed her forehead. He then covered up the child more securely with the red silk blanket and watched as his new child fell asleep.

Smiling, he approached the huge doubled doors to leave with the nursemaids and then said, "Let it be known to the Kingdom of the Skies that my son is the child of the dark. His formal name would be the Red-Eyes Black Dragon: Red-Eyes Katsuya."

Outside, many dragons began to roar and shriek for the new heir to the throne.

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Young Katsuya, now four hundred years old, (equivalent to a four year old child), slipped into the shadows of the Cathedral, eavesdropping on unsuspecting priests and nuns. He was told many times to enjoy the Garden outside but he preferred not to.

He loved the dim setting of the Cathedral. He worked better with the dark and the seductively lit candles among the rooms and the grand church. When does a super bright place with itchy grass compare with the cool comfortableness of a dark room?

There was always one thing on his mind whenever he blended with the shadows, and that was to catch his Kingship father off guard with a new attack he learned from his studies down in the altar basement. Every time he tried, though, he was always thwarted by King Ra and sent scrambling for another plan.

He enjoyed playing tricks on people and he didn't care if it hurt their feelings or not. It was not his problem that they were too slow to retaliate. Many of the staff feared him and he did not care the slightest. It only made it much more amusing to see them squirm.

Nevertheless, it seemed his father did not mind as well. His mother was getting sick recently and he made that as an appropriate excuse not to go outside whenever he was pushed into doing so. The only person Katsuya seemed to care about was his mother. She did not seem to care if he pulled pranks on her, not that he would, and tends to give him all the love she can muster regardless of her dwindling life. She was a princess from a northern country who had golden hair unlike the dark ones of the south. His father was captivated by her and stole her away to the Kingdom of the Skies so she could bare his children and live forever unlike her very small life span back on her home kingdom.

Strange enough, because of her humanity, her soul was slowly slipping away and her body raged into a sickness. It seemed as if her soul was not made for the strain of immortal life. She was slowly dying.

Katsuya would never admit of it, but his father would tell him time and time again to the point of the little boy to bluntly ask his father if he said those things because he really wanted his mother to die.

He had a sore bum for months.

He knew that his father loved his mother to the core, but did he have to remind them all that he had no power to keep his true love rooted to this world? The God King of the Skies that had all the powers of life could not even extend the life of his wife successfully?

The little boy made sure that when his mother died that his father would love no other woman like her. He couldn't take the fact that his father might even want his mother to die just so he could guiltlessly take in another wife to produce more children to succeed him.

The Red-Eyes Katsuya would never allow it!

With anger in his glowing red eyes, he caught his father and his mother in the throne room talking to the Lord of the Winged Beasts and his Lady. His father, looking mighty and God-like in his golden attire and golden spun hair, and his mother looking a bit sickly but still beautifully ethereal in her black robe and rubies in her hair.

Katsuya smiled mischievously. Perfect...

With a child like roar, he jumped from the high ended ceiling towards his father, his newly conjured ball of black and red fire in his hand, he threw it at his father and yelled, "Molten Fireball Attack!"

His father caught it with one hand and carelessly tossed it out of the way his attention diverted to the small heir. Katsuya growled and broke out his black dragon wings to balance him in mid air to punch and kick at his tall father.

King Ra didn't have to dodge and caught his son by the scruff of his neck like a kitten in less than ten seconds. He laughed while his mother gave a weak smile.

Katsuya just hung there, a frown on his small face.

"My son," Ra brandished to the Lord. "He is very slowly making his way to defeat me. He will make a very strong ruler, so long as he learns his manners..." He shook Katsuya gently as if to prove his point. He then held his son in his arms. Katsuya pouted into his fathers neck while his mother laughed.

"But, you came just in time Katsuya," Ra said. "We have someone here for you."

Katsuya raised his eyebrow. "I'm too young for a concubine."

This made the Lord and Lady laugh. "No, no," Ra responded. "This Lord here has agreed for you to make friends with his son, hopefully to straight you out."

The Lord moved to the side to reveal a small boy the same age as Katsuya. He had long spiky black hair and black and red feathered wings. Katsuya narrowed his eyes, "What's your name?"

The boy walked over, no fear at all in his eyes as Ra put Katsuya down to meet with the boy face to face. "My name is Leo. I'm the younger brother of the Harpies."

They looked at each other for a moment. Katsuya sighed. "I guess I can't scare your way out of this, huh?"

Leo nodded. "Nope."

He pouted cutely and took Leo's hand to show him his room and sighed. "Let's go."

The adults laughed as they both left. One exasperated and one indifferent.

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Two hundred years later, Katsuya and Leo retreated out of the dungeons once it was nightfall outside the Cathedral. Leo was laughing behind the stomping heir.

"Miserable old coot! How dare he mock me like that!" Katsuya growled, obviously irritated and spun around to yell at his friend. "It's not funny, you Harpy tranny!"

Leo automatically stopped and glared at the six hundred year old nuisance. "I'm not a Harpy tranny, you ungrateful leather beater! I'm a rare species!"

"Rare species, my ass! Since when does being born a boy make you so special?" Katsuya retorted angrily.

The male Harpy began to count his fingers. "Let's see, I get to be heir to my father's throne, I can have anything I want, I can do ANYTHING I want, and I can kick your sorry ass in battle once I start a global war against you! And besides— male Harpies are very rare, thank you very much! There's at least a 0-1 chance of having one every millennia!"

Katsuya waved his hand away. "Tch. Whatever, you say...tranny."

Leo huffed. "It's not my fault you're pissed at Ragnarok!"

This made the small dragon growl. "Divine Dragon Ragnarok—there's nothing divine about him! Where does he get off calling me a stuck-up little ingrate with a bizarre need for attention anyways!"

The male Harpy rolled his eyes. "He forgot useless."

Katsuya shook his fist at him, conjuring a bit of fire.

(Small flashback)

"_My child, your ego has become much bigger than your head. If you do not learn compassion, there are others who can succeed you and take your place as future ruler of the Skies."_

"_Old fart, if you don't teach me something to become ruler in the first place, YOU don't have a place in the future!"_

"_Big words for such a small dragon. Learning how to control that anger of yours should be your first step. I will teach you, but you must realize that you must rule with your heart..."_

(End flashback)

He huffed and put his flame out. "The old geezer doesn't even know what he's saying. How the Hell can you rule with your heart? It's having the greatest power of all that makes a ruler!"

Leo sighed. "You're completely dense. But maybe once you grow up, that'll change."

"Bah! Who cares now? I'm starving, let's get something to eat," Katsuya closed the subject and raced with Leo down to the kitchens.

TBC...

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A/N: It's weird at first, but it will get better!


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